Bullies For ObamaCare!

I thought the Left was against bullying?

When Mike Ruffer, an eight franchise owner of the Five Guys hamburger chain revealed this week that the economic impact of Obamacare would force him to raise the price of the popular burgers, he received national attention including a segment on The Rush Limbaugh Show....

Matt Yglesias at Slate called Ruffer a liar because, you know, Yglesias knows the hamburger business better than the North Carolina entrepreneur:

This is self-refuting nonsense. The only situation in which it would make sense for Ruffer to raise prices is if price increases will on net lead to higher revenue. And if price increases will lead to higher revenue (which they might) then it makes sense for Ruffer to raise prices no matter what happens with Obamacare.

Yglesias then negates his own argument for the sake of demonizing all corporations who dare to make profits with their businesses: (emphasis mine)

In fact, Ruffer himself articulates the truth later which is that Obamacare is going to reduce his profits by about one-eighth and he (and any investors in his business) will eat the loss. With corporate profits as a share of the economy at an all-time high, nobody's going to cry for him either.

Yglesias has been a left-wing whore with pretensions to economic knowledge for a passel of years. To borrow Ayn Rand's formulation, the man couldn't profitably operate a vegetable pushcart, but he feels perfectly well qualified to criticize the business decisions of the most successful corporate executives in America. But Yglesias isn't alone in this:

Center for American Progress, John Podesta's team of bullies, basically called Ruffer a dead-beat for denying his employees "basic health care":

As the Examiner explicitly states, Ruffer is actively trying to “escape” the health reform law, and has had his mind made up about it for a while. That’s become an increasingly common position among large employers — particularly in the service industry, where large restaurant chains have been threatening to cut workers’ benefits by shifting costs onto them, cut back on wages, cut back on hours, or raise their products’ prices. Ruffer has, by his own admission, considered every single one of those options. But that isn’t a reflection of the reform law itself — it’s a reflection of companies’ desire to protect their own bottom line by having their low-wage employees go uninsured or obtain coverage through Medicaid, rather than provide them with basic benefits.

Where does the Center for American Progress's money come from?

The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action". The Center presents a liberal viewpoint on economic issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Its President and chief executive officer is Neera Tanden, who worked for the Obama and Clinton administrations and for Hillary Clinton’s campaigns. Its first President and chief executive officer was John Podesta, who served as chief of staff to then U.S. President Bill Clinton. Podesta remains with the organization as chairman of the board. The Center for American Progress has a campus outreach group, Campus Progress, and a sister advocacy organization, the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Citing Podesta's influence in the formation of the Obama Administration, a November 2008 article in Time stated that "not since the Heritage Foundation helped guide Ronald Reagan's transition in 1981 has a single outside group held so much sway"....

Some open government groups, such as the Sunlight Foundation and the Campaign Legal Center, criticize the Center's failure to disclose its contributors, particularly since it is so influential in appointments to the Obama administration....

The Center for American Progress is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization under U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The institute receives approximately $25 million per year in funding from a variety of sources, including individuals, foundations, and corporations, but it declines to release any information on the sources of its funding. No funders are listed on its website or in its Annual Report. From 2003 to 2007, the Center received about $15 million in grants from 58 foundations. Major individual donors include George Soros, Peter Lewis, Steve Bing, and Herb and Marion Sandler. The Center receives undisclosed sums from corporate donors.

Oh, another gaggle of left-wing political whores, eh? And the "individuals, foundations, and corporations" that provide its operating funds have become too publicity-shy to allow their names to be used? Well, I'm sure their motives are the purest of pure, aren't you?

Remember, sports fans: What a bully fears most is being hit back. The Left's bullies are emboldened whenever a target of their tactics abases himself in hope of getting them to lay off. It's time we drew the moral and made the bullies feel twice as much pain.

Punch back twice as hard.

If it's good enough for The Won, surely it's good enough for us.